It’s easy to take your car for granted, it gets you where you want to go each and everytime you use it and you think nothing of it. But without a little care and attention in winter you could end up stranded on the hard shoulder. If anything at least ask yourself when you last did these checks, if ever!
1. Take a look at your car’s oil and oil filters. Ensure that you adhere to you car manufacturer’s oil recommendations, a clean and efficient engine oil is key to beating the frosts of winter driving.
2. Check your engine’s antifreeze with a tester kit, a mixture of 50/50 (50% distilled water, 50% antifreeze) should be enough in most conditions. In extremely cold weather, however, you might have to recheck for optimal conditions.
3. Icy road conditions could be problematic for your car’s tyres. Check the tread on all you tyres and consider the traction with snow and ice. You should also check that each of your tyres has sufficient pressure and that it’s in accordance with the recommended PSI levels. You can usually find the PSI level printed on the rim of the tyre. Quality well maintained and properly infalted tyres will go a longway towards helping you deal with the snow and ice, gaining traction with the road immediately and improving overall safety.
4. Have your car’s battery and charging checked. Car batteries tend to work much harder during wintertime. You wouldn’t want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere on a cold day because your battery died on you!
5. Verify that your engine’s belt and hoses are in good working condition. Damaged engine belts won’t withstand extreme cold.
6. If you have a cabin air filter equipped, replace it. Outside contaminants accumulated through the rest of the year settle down in the cabin air filter. Once you turn your car heater on, these contaminants will make their way deeper in to the car, potentially damaging it.
7. Protect your car’s paint from rain, snow, and salt by applying car wax to your vehicle’s body.
8. One of the most important components of winter car care is visibility. A lot of road accidents related to winter weather are caused by the lack of visibility. Ensure that your wiper blades are working properly, with your windshield all clear. As an extra precaution, use windshield fluids with de-icer treatment to fight the winter frost.
9. Check your car’s lights (tail lights, signal bulbs, brake lights, headlights, and driving lights among others) to see if they are working properly. Winter days can barely get light sometimes and you will be relying on your lights for longer hours.
10. Lastly, prepare an emergency kit and keep it in your car in the event that you suddenly find yourself stranded. Have your phone ready with you as well as extra food, water, flashlight, flares, and a first-aid kit.
You can follow winter car care tips to the letter, but there are still situations when things will not go as well as planned. Remember prevention is better than cure and you can’t go far wrong.
Of course the easiest way to ensure you’re car is going to be winter proof is to have a small winter service, Tyldesley Tyres & Exhausts can help you with this, just give us a quick call 01942 875 788 or complete our simple contact form and we’ll do the rest.